"Mr. Arc, as we are now both done with our meals," she started, her voice was all but lacking its cutting edge now, "I'll have to hand you off to someone else for the rest of your tour."
Jaune set his cup down. "Alright," he said simply, giving her a nod. If anything, he was a little relieved. Three hours of nonstop information dumps about the Nightmare Realm, operatives, ranking systems, and Grimm had filled his brain so much he was sure it was about to start leaking out his ears. A change of pace sounded nice.
Glynda tilted her head slightly, as if expecting him to press her. When he didn't, her brows drew together in faint amusement. "You're not going to ask why I'm not continuing?"
Jaune shrugged lightly. "Figured you have more important stuff to do. You're… you know… important. Right?"
Her lips quirked in the faintest hint of a smile before returning to their usual neutral line. "Perhaps. But for the sake of clarity, Commander Ozpin may be the officer in charge of Vale's branch of LUCID, however I am the one who handles the day-to-day operations and directly oversees most deployments. Not to mention my work as the assistant headmistress of Beacon academy itself. That makes me a very busy individual."
That actually did surprise Jaune a little. He sat back, eyebrows raising. "I... see. So… why were you the one doing my orientation then? No offense, but I can't imagine you've got time to walk every new recruit through the basics."
"Correct," she said smoothly, ignoring his small jab. "Your case is… special. Which means you get special attention."
Jaune nodded slowly. That tracked with his suspicions. Between the bizarre way he'd awakened and the odd circumstances that followed him in Ansel, the higher-ups would definitely want to keep a closer eye on him.
He took a last sip of his drink before standing. Glynda rose at the same time, and together they walked toward the cafeteria's wide glass doors.
The moment they stepped out, Jaune spotted a familiar figure—tall, bronze-skinned and striking in a way that seemed effortless. Her hair, a glossy cascade of chocolate brown with just the faintest reddish tint under the lights, was tied into a sleek braid that hung over her shoulder. It swayed around as she shifted her weight. Even in the simple black-and-gray uniform of LUCID staff, she was a woman that could turn heads effortlessly without even trying.
"Arc," she greeted with a small smirk, voice warm but edged with amusement. "Might want to close your mouth before you catch any flies."
Startled, Jaune's first instinct was to check. He ran his tongue over his lips and realized his mouth had been closed the entire time. "Hey, it wasn't open," he protested, pointing an accusing finger at her.
She lifted a perfectly arched eyebrow. "I know."
Jaune narrowed his eyes at her for a second, then sighed and grinned anyway. "You're evil."
"Come now. Is that any way to greet your new superior?"
Glynda, standing to the side, let out the faintest breath of what might have been amusement before stepping forward. "Counsellor Vex, this is Jaune Arc. You've met before, but I'll leave him in your care now."
The woman—Counsellor Vex—extended her hand, and Jaune shook it. Her grip was firm but not crushing, the kind of handshake that instantly conveyed both confidence and capability.
"Didn't expect to see you again so soon," Jaune said. "Last time we met, you were getting me set up with Ruby Rose as my school guide."
"Mm-hmm," Vex said, eyes scanning him in a way that felt appraising but not unfriendly. "Figured the new... hotshot in town should have someone looking out for him. Turns out I underestimated you."
Jaune tilted his head. "Underestimated?"
"You're still alive after three hours with Glynda Goodwitch. That's an accomplishment."
"Counsellor," Glynda said, her tone flat but holding the faintest undertone of warning.
Vex raised both hands in mock surrender. "With all due respect, Glynda, I'm just saying—most new operatives walk out of orientation looking like someone hit them with a truck made of spreadsheets."
Jaune chuckled at that. "I'm definitely feeling it," he admitted. "But I think I've got the basics down. Sort of."
"You'll get there," Vex said. "Come on, I'll give you the rest of the tour. Glynda's probably got fifty other fires to put out."
Glynda inclined her head, her expression unreadable. "Indeed. Mr. Arc, I expect you to remember what you've learned today. It will serve you well."
"Yes, ma'am," Jaune said, giving her a small salute—half-sincere, half-playful.
She gave him one last measuring look, then turned and walked away, her heels clicking sharply against the polished floor until she disappeared around a corner.
As soon as she was gone, Vex glanced sideways at Jaune. "So. How's it feel knowing that probably half the people you've met in the last week were secretly part of LUCID?"
Jaune let out a small laugh, shaking his head. "Honestly? Starting to feel like everyone and their dog is in this organization. Wouldn't surprise me if the lunch ladies at Beacon turned out to also be rank-two operatives."
Vex smirked. "You joke, but that's not far from the truth."
"Wait, really?"
"Not telling," she said, clearly enjoying herself.
As they started walking down the hall, Jaune found himself glancing around at the people passing by. It was weird to think that some of them were full-time operatives, others were researchers, and some—like Glynda had said earlier—never even set foot in the Nightmare Realm. He realized he didn't really have a mental picture of what a "non-combat" LUCID member did, but he had a feeling Vex was going to enlighten him before the day was out.
For now, though, he was just curious—and maybe a little wary—about what she meant by "rest of the tour."
Counsellor Vex didn't waste any time once Glynda was gone.
"Alright, Arc. You've seen a lot of the base already but now, we'll get to the good stuff."
They passed through a set of double security doors. The air beyond felt cooler and crisper than before. The hallway opened into something that could only describe as the inside of a sci-fi movie.
The walls were smooth gunmetal, lit by recessed lines of soft blue-white light. Signs in crisp block text and color-coded stripes pointed toward sections marked Training Complex, Operations, Hangar, and Logistics. Everywhere they went, uniformed LUCID personnel moved with purpose, some carrying tablets streaming lines of data, others in fitted armor headed toward an elevator bay.
"Is this place really under Beacon? It just feels..." Jaune asked with a murmur as they walked.
"It is," Vex explained, glancing at him. "But the base existed long before the academy was even built. This whole site was chosen for strategic reasons—Beacon just made the perfect cover. You're standing on what used to be the crown jewel of Vale's LUCID infrastructure. This place is in the central location in all of Vale. Operatives will quick response times in all directions. You could get a team halfway across the city before anyone in even noticed. It's a little different in the dream realm, however."
Jaune hummed under his breath. "And here I thought secret bases were just for spy movies."
"You'd be surprised. But truthfully, they are," she said, smirking. "And we're just very good at operating onsite."
The first stop was the Training Complex. The doors slid open with a hiss, revealing a wide chamber the size of a basketball court—but the floor and walls shimmered faintly, like heat distortion. A squad of operatives in light armor were running a combat simulation inside. One moment the room showed nothing but a blank metallic floor, and the next it shifted, flickering into a replica of a city street at night. Streetlamps buzzed overhead, rain spattered down from nowhere, and a trio of red-eyed, shadow-like Grimm constructs lunged at the trainees.
"Are those... hard-light holograms? How is that even possible?" Jaune asked, stepping closer to the glass observation wall.
"Rune-tech projection," Vex corrected. "Regular electronics don't work in the Nightmare realm. Runes however, do. Almost everything you're seeing is powered by special inscribed matrices born from one of our four Relics, the Great Rune of Creation. Which means that it's not just a light show, those things have mass, resistance and even the same energy signatures as the real targets. If you can fight it here, you can fight it there. Well... to a degree. The projections don't hit as hard and there are also other limitations. But we do what we can."
Jaune watched as one operative was tackled into the side of a projected car, the impact sending it rocking with a screech of bending metal. The trainee rolled, slashing their weapon through the construct, which dissolved into motes of white light. "That's… impressive," he admitted.
'The relics huh?' Jaune was curious to find out more about them.
They moved on to the Operations Center, where workstations faced a massive curved wall of crystal-clear display panels. Jaune saw maps of Vale overlaid with glowing red and yellow markers, charts scrolling alongside tactical feeds, and a handful of what looked like live Nightmare Realm visuals—jagged city skylines under a blood moon, mist-choked streets, flashes of battle.
"Think of this as the brain of the base," Vex explained. "Every distress call comes through here first. Every team in the field is tracked from this room."
"Looks expensive," Jaune said without thinking.
Vex snorted. "It was. And worth every dollar. Vale's had more close calls than people know."
A walk later, they stepped out into the Information Archive. This section was quieter—rows of tall, lined glass cases filled with projected displays of Runes. Holographic plaques detailed the finds, and operatives in long white coats moved between them with scanners.
"This is where we store information about Grimm and runes, combinations, tactics, weaponry and much more." Vex said, lowering her voice slightly. "Some information here is quite volatile so proper procedures are needed for use."
Finally, they reached the Hangar Bay. The place that was connected to the glass window from Ozpin's office. The ceiling arched high overhead, the space easily large enough to hold a few small-story buildings. Sleek black vehicles sat in neat rows—some resembling armored troop carriers, others more like airborne skiffs. At the far end, a couple of bipedal mechs stood on their docking platforms, their armored plating gleaming under industrial lights. Each bore lines of glowing runes etched along their limbs and chest, the inscriptions pulsing like a heartbeat.
Jaune just stared. "This is like straight out of an anime or a movie, at that."
Vex's lips quirked. "We call them, Rune Frames. Mostly for heavy extraction or high-threat zones. They are also... one time use. The runes inlaid have to be replaced whenever its used so... it's very costly to use. You won't be touching one for a long time. "
"Not even a little?"
"Not even a little," she said firmly.
They lingered at the railing for a moment, watching a crew in the pit below work on refitting a skiff's rune array.
On the way out, Jaune finally asked the question that had been itching at him. "How do you power all of this? You said normal electricity doesn't work in the Dream, but this is… a lot of tech."
Vex nodded. "Most of this is powered by Runes. Entire systems were built to translate electrical energy into stable, inscribed matrices that can be used to power runes. Everything you see here can survive full immersion in the Nightmare Realm without losing function. The trade-off is complexity—runework requires specialists to maintain. Which is why we invest in them heavily."
They talked as they walked, showing off a few more places. Jaune was quite curious about one place which held a variety of oddly stylized pods, though Vex told him that he'll get a chance to check it out in the future. She asked him a little about his experiences—his recent excursions into the Dream, the strange places he'd visited and the things he'd fought. When she asked if he'd seen how Beacon looked in the Nightmare, Jaune shook his head.
"You will, very soon" Vex said, giving him a knowing smirk. "That experience is sure to be quite interesting."
Jaune prompted her for more information but she seemed to enjoy withholding information from him. She had even done something similar on his first day at beacon when she didn't even tell him what Ruby's name was at first.
By the time the tour looped back toward the administrative wing, Jaune felt like his head was swimming again. Vex guided him into a side office where a stack of neatly arranged forms waited on a desk.
"Paperwork," she said. "You'll want to fill these out if you actually want to get paid for field work. And yes, hazard pay is included."
Jaune eyed the stack. "That's… a lot."
"You get used to it. Welcome to LUCID."
As he signed, they kept talking. Somewhere in the conversation, he learned Vex was a rank two operative—a fact she admitted with the same casual tone someone might use to mention their favorite drink. That led to a discussion of rune mastery, and Jaune quickly realized it was a lot harder than he'd thought. The intricacies of rune comprehension was far more than met the eye.
Even so, by the time he handed the last form back to her, Jaune could feel the excitement buzzing under his skin.
He wasn't alone anymore. He had people who knew what they were doing—people who could help him get stronger. Proper equipment and training.
And tonight… he was going to see what Beacon looked like in the Nightmare Realm.
.
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AN: Advanced chapters(up to 10) and character images(free) are available on patreon.